Productivity growth in Europe and Russia
18 October 2018 2:00 pm CEST
Presentations by Kirsten Jäger and Ilya Voskoboynikov
Venue
wiiw, Rahlgasse 3, 1060 Vienna, library (2nd floor)
Description
1. Why is productivity in Europe still struggling? (by Kirsten Jäger)
This presentation provides insights on the main findings with respect to recent trends of productivity growth in Europe based on the latest 2017 EU KLEMS release. Starting from the global view, we will look at drivers of economic growth in Europe and the US. Besides the total economy perspective, we will also zoom in on manufacturing and market services and explain how these sectors evolved after the financial crisis. The productivity paradox of the New Digital Economy will round up the EU-US comparisons.
2. What explains the productivity slowdown in Russia? (by Ilya Voskoboynikov)
Although productivity slowdown of the global economy was observed before 2008, it is the 2008 crisis that stimulated studies on its origins. To what extent is this global view helpful in understanding recent productivity slowdown of the Russian economy? The present study shows that stagnation of 2008-2014 is more the outcome of TFP slowdown and the deterioration of the allocation of labour rather than the lack of capital inputs. Moreover, TFP slowdown started in Russia a few years before the crisis, the same as in major global economies, such as the United States, OECD countries, China and Brazil. At the same time, relatively stable capital deepening makes the Russian pattern to some degree similar to resources abundant Australia and Canada. Next, the contribution of information and communication capital to labour productivity growth in Russia after 2008 declined, which can hamper technology diffusion. Finally the structure of the flow of capital services in Russia has changed after 2008. Before the crisis the contribution of machinery and equipment dominated, while after the crisis constructions provided the lions’ share of capital inputs.
Kirsten Jäger has been the principal researcher of the 2016 and 2017 EU KLEMS releases (together with The Conference Board). She has substantive experience with using, constructing, and documenting EU KLEMS files for all EU-28 countries, various EU aggregates, and the United States.
Ilya Voskoboynikov is a Senior Research Fellow at the Laboratory for Research in Inflation and Growth, National Research University Higher School of Economics in Russia. Ilya’s research focuses on Russia’s economic structure, competitiveness, and productivity growth. He is also the author for a variety of publications and research papers, ranging from structural transformation in emerging markets, to Russia’s industrial productivity growth trends.